Blog
Trivia of the Week: Pruney Fingers
Have you noticed that if you take a long bath, the skin on your fingers and toes gets wrinkly? English speakers call this “pruney fingers”, because the wrinkled skin looks like the skin of a prune (a sweet dried plum). Scientists say this doesn’t happen because our...
Idiom of the Week: Tip of the Iceberg
“Oh no, look at the mess the kids made in the hall! I knew they weren’t old enough to stay home without a babysitter.” “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you see what they did in the kitchen!” An iceberg represents a problem or a bad thing. Icebergs are...
Word of the Week: Else
“The car ran out of gas, and it started raining. What else can go wrong?” “Okay, that’s one sandwich and one coffee. Do you want anything else?” “I’m tired of ice cream. Let’s get something else.” “Else” means “other than that” or “in addition to that.” It is useful...
Picture of the Week: Fountain
This twilit fountain is in Boca Raton, Florida. “Boca Raton” means “mouse mouth” in Spanish. Are there any cities near you with strange names?...
Phrase of the Week: Hang Out
“Every day after school I hang out at the mall with my friends until my dad comes to pick me up.” “Hanging out” is spending time somewhere or with someone without doing anything important. You can hang out and watch a movie, or hang out and play video games, or hang...
TOEIC Practice Question of the Week
“We are looking for someone with experts in the area of computers.” Where is the mistake? A. looking for B. someone with C. experts in D. of computers 「コンピューターの知識に優れた人材を探しています。」...
Trivia of the Week: A.k.a.
“John Smith, a.k.a. the Springfield Bandit, was arrested yesterday.” “A.k.a.” stands for “also known as”. We use it to tell another name of a person or thing. For example, it can be used with nicknames, pen names or aliases. However, when the additional information is...
Idiom of the Week: No-Brainer
「熊かワニ、どっちと戦いたい？」 「簡単な問題だね。ワニは口を塞いだら攻撃できないからね」...
Word of the Week: Meet
“I met Bob at my sister’s wedding.” “Let’s meet at five o’clock at the café.” When we use the word “meet” with people, it usually means “meet for the first time” or “meet at a certain time or place”. If you say, “I met my cousin,” without mentioning a time or place,...
Picture of the Week: Knotted Rope
This rope has knots tied in it so that it is easier to climb. Did you ever have to climb a rope in P.E. at school? How high could you climb?...
